Top seeds Cleveland ousted by Indiana in just five games
Well, that's our big bet out of the window. Cleveland ended up the regular plus post season 0-5 at home against Indiana, who unceremoniously dumped the Cavs out of the Eastern Conference playoffs. First time a team has ever made back-to-back conference finals whilst not being seeded 3 or higher (4th this season, 6th last season)
At time of publishing the futures odds for winning the 2024/25 NBA Championships look like this:
OKC: best odds 1.8 (in from 2.1 yesterday)
New York: best odds 6 (in from 7.5)
Minnesota: best odds 7 (in from 7.5)
Indiana: best odds 8 (in from 13)
Boston: best odds 29 (unchanged)
Denver: best odds 31 (out from 17)
Golden State: best odds 251 (unchanged)
Cleveland: Eliminated (were 13)
PACERS 114, CAVALIERS 105
Betting Results:
Head to Head: Pacers odds 3.638
Line: Pacers (+8.5), odds 1.905
Total Points: Under (230) odds 1.901
Pre-game Prediction
Pacers, 22.7%
Cavaliers, 77.3%
Pacers win the Eastern Conference Semifinal series 4-1
CLEVELAND (AP) — Tyrese Haliburton scored 31 points, Pascal Siakam added 21 and the Indiana Pacers advanced to the Eastern Conference Finals with a 114-105 victory over Cleveland on Tuesday night, eliminating the top-seeded Cavaliers in five games.
Donovan Mitchell, who missed the second half of Sunday’s game due to a sprained left ankle, led Cleveland with 35 points. Evan Mobley added 24 points and 11 rebounds.
The fourth-seeded Pacers will now await the winner of the matchup between the Boston Celtics and New York Knicks. New York has a 3-1 advantage in the series with Game 5 on Thursday night in Boston.
Indiana rallied from a 19-point deficit in the first half and took control after halftime as it won all three games at Cleveland’s Rocket Arena.
The Cavs dropped three home games in a postseason series for the first time.
NBA's Top 5 Plays of the Night - May 13 - NBA Playoff Semifinals
THUNDER 112, NUGGETS 105
Betting Results:
Head to Head: Thunder, odds 1.22
Line: Nuggets (+9.5), odds 1.917
Total Points: Under (221.5) odds 1.905
Pre-game Prediction
Nuggets, 19.4%
Thunder, 80.6%
OKC lead the Western Conference Semifinal series 3-2
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 31 points, and Oklahoma City beat Denver to go up 3-2 in their Western Conference semifinal series.
Oklahoma City overcame a 44-point, 15-rebound night from Denver’s Nikola Jokic. The Thunder can clinch the series on Thursday in Denver.
Gilgeous-Alexander made 12 of 23 field goals and had seven assists. He led six Thunder players in double figures.
Jokic made 17 of 25 shots. Denver’s Jamal Murray scored 28 points, but he made just 10 of 27 shots. No other Denver player scored more than 13 points.
